Though great teams of scientists participated in atomic research, only a few men were responsible for the most significant advances in the field. This a biography of one of those pioneers, Ernest Rutherford. Science minded students will be interested in how he arrived at each vital discovery. Rutherford's work in the area of radioactivity was a major factor in the discovery of the electron -- this, back in 1897 when Rutherford was a young man. Further investigation resulted in the separation of the alpha and beta rays which Rutherford named himself and in the discovery of gamma rays. From his boyhood days in New Zealand to the crowning recognition of his achievements when he was knighted and made recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, robin Mckown reconstructs the life of an important scientist combining both personal and academic aspects. it is competent, well researched biography.